It was a split-second decision with what proved to be fatal consequences. Now, a Northampton County jury must decide who is at fault.

Headed to an emergency alarm on busy Eighth Avenue in Bethlehem, veteran city firefighter Frank Dashner IV encountered a bottleneck at a red light as he tried to get his fire engine to the call as quickly as possible.

The opposing lane of traffic was wide open, and Dashner decided to take his ladder truck the wrong way down the divided street by cutting across an opening in the median. He moved his 35,000-pound engine at a crawl, Dashner said, as oncoming drivers yielded in the far lane to his lights and sirens.

"They all pulled over for me, every single one," Dashner recalled Wednesday at the courthouse in Easton. "Everybody stopped. Nobody was moving at that time."

Then, one car pulled out of the line of vehicles and sped up the road. "Look at that guy," Dashner's partner, John Palmer, warned him.

That day in 2008, Dashner said he began braking as the sports car proceeded. He was at a complete stop by the time the other driver lost control and crashed into the firetruck, Dashner told a jury.

"Seven years I've been dealing with this and I'm really sorry this happened," Dashner said at a trial that will determine whether he and the city of Bethlehem are liable in the death of 60-year-old William R. Samer. "But every time I think about this, I come up with the same conclusion: Why didn't he go around me? Why didn't he pull over? Why didn't he just stop?"

With that, Dashner swiveled his chair away from the jury and fought emotion, with Judge Emil Giordano calling for a break to allow him to compose himself. The testimony came on a day in which Bethlehem presented its side in a lawsuit in which the widow of Samer, Judith Samer, is seeking monetary damages, arguing negligence by Dashner, a 25-year veteran of the fire department.

Jurors began deliberating the case Wednesday evening before being sent home for the night after two hours. The panel will resume its discussions Thursday morning.

The accident occurred Oct. 24, 2008, as Dashner responded to what proved to be a false alarm at Service Electric Cable TV.

Was the wreck caused by a mistaken decision by Dashner to cross the divided road and drive against traffic? Or was Samer to blame for his own failure to yield to an emergency vehicle — as others did that day?

Those are questions the jury will have to wrestle with.

An attorney for Samer's estate, Daniel Munley, argues that Dashner should never have driven in the wrong lane, with the fire department's own rules saying it "shall be avoided when possible."

Robert Hanna Jr., a lawyer for Bethlehem, says Dashner was driving safely and cautiously when Samer, of Hanover Township, Northampton County, lost control of his car for an unknown reason.

In 2009, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin ruled that Dashner would not face criminal charges. Police said Samer drove nearly a half-mile with the fire engine in sight, and hit it as it was at a stop or going slower than 5 mph.

Bethlehem police officer Jonathan Desiderio testified Wednesday that the police investigation placed fault with Samer, finding Dashner's emergency vehicle was entitled to the right of way under state law.

Munley countered by suggesting Samer would still be alive today, but for Dashner's decision to cross into the oncoming lanes.

"That firetruck shouldn't have been there and when he was, he took everything from Judy," Munley told jurors, Samer's widow sitting feet away.

An eyewitness, Sandra Geschardt of Bethlehem, testified Wednesday that she was among the line of opposing traffic that had stopped for Dashner's truck.

"We all pulled over, what you're supposed to do," Geschardt said. "We all pulled over to make way."

Geschardt said she saw Samer's car leave the line and "fly up the street."

"I thought, 'Is this guy crazy? What is he doing?'" Geschardt recollected.

Hanna, the city's attorney, told the jury that every driver knows they are required to yield to a firetruck during an emergency. Samer, Hanna said, "obviously he didn't do that."